Mifford
Silver Member
Hello again ladies. Many apologies for my extended absence - hadn't realised how long I'd been gone!
Thank you all for the messages and posts and sorry I've not been catching up with anyone or posting as life has been a bit hectic.
I was away over Christmas and then January gets absolutely manic with work so I never have time to update things and everything goes out of the window a bit. I decided while I didn't have time to think about food to do a few weeks of Cambridge - not full blown as I was having a full meal in the evenings - and less for weight loss than for making sure my body was getting the nutrients it needed and I managed to lose the few poinds I gained at Christmas and a few extra.
All was going well until I then had my appointment with the new consultant in rheumatology about 4 weeks ago. Not quite sure if it's bad news or good in that I finally have a label I can tell people but basically he confirmed that I have lupus. It still seems a bit strange to actually put that put there in black & white and I'm not really sure how I feel about it to be honest - nothing has changed as obviously I already had it and have for some time and at least now I'm on treatment but at the same time the back of my head is aware that it can be a serious illness. As I put it to my mum the good news is I was right but the bad news is I was right!
At the moment I'm at the very mild end of it as far as damage to my system is concerned and the consultant intends to try and keep it that way. At this point I have been put on anti malarial drugs to try and suppress my immune system and I have been told that with the way I react to it I have to avoid the sun and wear factor 50+ sunscreen throughout march to October. I was kind of doing that anyway but hit and miss and only using it when I was sitting in the sun but I've now been told I have to take it far more seriously to avoid a flare up and apply everywhere every day whether I'm out or not and reapply regularly.
The new tablets are kicking my butt a bit and making me very nauseous with the only thing stopping it is to nobble on food all day so had to stop Cambridge and between that and my body/thyroid reacting I'm back to where I was before Christmas weight wise.
I needed a bit of a break so have just got back from a weekend in York which was good in getting me focused again. Then I had an email from a friend in the USA inviting me to go see her for a week down at the lake in north Carolina in June. I've decided that although I might suffer a bit for the flight I'm going to go ahead and plan the trip to give me something to look forward to - there's plenty of shade at the lake house so it shouldn't be a big problem from that point of view and I really need to not let this start making me stop doing things at the moment and keep it in perspective.
So that also gives me a focus for the dieting as that's about 16 weeks away and i need to lose around 16lbs if I can to be comfortable in shorts and to even consider wearing a bikini - or shorts and t shirts in my case as not sure a bikini would be a good idea for avoiding the sun anyway. And with that in mind I restarted my proponents counting today and the first time in a couple of months I tracked my points. Hopefully I can now make it go beyond one day and get myself focused again. I've got all the right foods in this week and a menu plan to keep me heading in the right direction and an aim of 1lb each week - hopefully the new meds won't be messing up my thyroid too much and my body will let the weight come off but if it is going to mess me up I need to get back on track to stop any gain anyway.
So that's where Im at right now. I see the consultant again in May to see whether the new meds are working - they seem to be actually creating symptoms at the moment which isn't great at the mo as being so tired with a blinding headache, joint pain and feeling sick all the time doesn't help me stay focused on my dieting. With any luck that'll all adjust soon and settle down.
Hope everyone else is doing well and do update me on how it's going - will try and get myself back to posting regularly again from here on in but bear with me if it's a bit hit and miss at the moment
Thank you all for the messages and posts and sorry I've not been catching up with anyone or posting as life has been a bit hectic.
I was away over Christmas and then January gets absolutely manic with work so I never have time to update things and everything goes out of the window a bit. I decided while I didn't have time to think about food to do a few weeks of Cambridge - not full blown as I was having a full meal in the evenings - and less for weight loss than for making sure my body was getting the nutrients it needed and I managed to lose the few poinds I gained at Christmas and a few extra.
All was going well until I then had my appointment with the new consultant in rheumatology about 4 weeks ago. Not quite sure if it's bad news or good in that I finally have a label I can tell people but basically he confirmed that I have lupus. It still seems a bit strange to actually put that put there in black & white and I'm not really sure how I feel about it to be honest - nothing has changed as obviously I already had it and have for some time and at least now I'm on treatment but at the same time the back of my head is aware that it can be a serious illness. As I put it to my mum the good news is I was right but the bad news is I was right!
At the moment I'm at the very mild end of it as far as damage to my system is concerned and the consultant intends to try and keep it that way. At this point I have been put on anti malarial drugs to try and suppress my immune system and I have been told that with the way I react to it I have to avoid the sun and wear factor 50+ sunscreen throughout march to October. I was kind of doing that anyway but hit and miss and only using it when I was sitting in the sun but I've now been told I have to take it far more seriously to avoid a flare up and apply everywhere every day whether I'm out or not and reapply regularly.
The new tablets are kicking my butt a bit and making me very nauseous with the only thing stopping it is to nobble on food all day so had to stop Cambridge and between that and my body/thyroid reacting I'm back to where I was before Christmas weight wise.
I needed a bit of a break so have just got back from a weekend in York which was good in getting me focused again. Then I had an email from a friend in the USA inviting me to go see her for a week down at the lake in north Carolina in June. I've decided that although I might suffer a bit for the flight I'm going to go ahead and plan the trip to give me something to look forward to - there's plenty of shade at the lake house so it shouldn't be a big problem from that point of view and I really need to not let this start making me stop doing things at the moment and keep it in perspective.
So that also gives me a focus for the dieting as that's about 16 weeks away and i need to lose around 16lbs if I can to be comfortable in shorts and to even consider wearing a bikini - or shorts and t shirts in my case as not sure a bikini would be a good idea for avoiding the sun anyway. And with that in mind I restarted my proponents counting today and the first time in a couple of months I tracked my points. Hopefully I can now make it go beyond one day and get myself focused again. I've got all the right foods in this week and a menu plan to keep me heading in the right direction and an aim of 1lb each week - hopefully the new meds won't be messing up my thyroid too much and my body will let the weight come off but if it is going to mess me up I need to get back on track to stop any gain anyway.
So that's where Im at right now. I see the consultant again in May to see whether the new meds are working - they seem to be actually creating symptoms at the moment which isn't great at the mo as being so tired with a blinding headache, joint pain and feeling sick all the time doesn't help me stay focused on my dieting. With any luck that'll all adjust soon and settle down.
Hope everyone else is doing well and do update me on how it's going - will try and get myself back to posting regularly again from here on in but bear with me if it's a bit hit and miss at the moment
